The Latest in the War on Christianity in Public Schools

Ever since a few whiny complaining atheists convinced the US Supreme Court to throw God, prayer and the Bible out of the public schools, it has empowered them to wage a fifty-year war against Christianity.

In the 1970s, I was attending Arizona State University, pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree in wildlife and fisheries biology. I made it known to some of my professors that I was a Christian and didn’t believe in evolution. At times, I would point out the reasons why the evolutionary lesson they were teaching defied the laws of science and how a biblical creation based theory made more sense of the evidence. At the start of one semester, the professor took role and when he called my name, he stated in front of the class that he knew I was a Christian who didn’t believe in evolution and as such if I dared to open my mouth in his class he would automatically fail me.

A former co-worker of mine was attending a university where he obtained a degree in geology. He had to keep his Christian faith secret because his adviser, who chaired the geology department told all of his students that he would fail any Christian who didn’t accept billions of years and evolution.

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When I worked at the Answers in Genesis ministry, I heard from a number of students in junior and senior high school as well as college that told us of similar situations. One high school student told me over the phone that school officials told him it was illegal to pray over his lunch in the school cafeteria. He called looking for information that he could use to show the school officials that they were wrong. I directed him to the Christian Law Association in Florida who sent him their information. He took it to the school officials, but they continued to try to deny him the right to silently pray for his food on school property. Only after the student and his parents threatened to file a lawsuit did the school back down.

Another high school student shared with me that her first day of high school biology, the teacher asked to see how many students were Christians. She said that she and five others raised their hands. The teacher then boldly ridiculed them as being stupid and that by the end of his class none of them would believe in the Bible or Christianity any longer.

More recently, Ben May, a student at Man High School in Man, West Virginia began preaching to his fellow students during his lunch time. He shared his faith in Jesus Christ and reportedly helped lead at least 16 students to accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior, all during the lunch hour.

Recently, as the small group of students had stopped to pray, a teacher told them to stop praying because it was against the Constitution. Skyler Moore, one of the students praying told the media:

“A teacher walked up and told us we couldn’t do that at school because it was against the Constitution and that apparently we were offending people. We told her we had a right to pray and that they couldn’t stop us.”

The incident was reported to school administrators who first tried to deny that the teacher told them to stop praying or told them they needed to change locations. Only after the students insisted that the teacher told them to stop praying and to move to another location did Superintendent Phyllis Doty admit that the students did have the constitutional right to pray during their lunch hour and that teachers had been made aware it.

In another recent incident, school officials at Middleton High School in Middleton, Wisconsin are trying to stop a group of Christian parents from providing free hot lunches and a Christian message off school grounds. Originally, 5 students met with their moms at lunch time for a hot meal and a Christian message. Those students invited others to join them and soon there were 10 students meeting for what’s been labeled Jesus Lunches.

“In the Spring of 2014 the 10 students invited their friends to a free lunch and a brief spiritual talk in the open air pavilion across from the High School. The group meets for eight weeks in the Fall, and eight weeks in the Spring. The first week 40 students showed up, then 70, the next week, 100 students came. The five moms make all the meals, set the tables, arrange for the speakers and clean up, every week.

Last fall the word had spread (pun intended) and the first week 200 kids showed up, then 300, then 400-450 every week! That represents 25% of the Middleton High School student body, meeting every week for a free hot lunch and listening to a Christian message.

This year’s theme is Jesus Loves You. During the lunch the students are encouraged to discuss what they took away from the talk. Relationships are built with each other and with the moms who organize the lunches.”

The weekly lunches are now costing the 5 moms around $2,500 a week. Part of that money is coming in from local churches and Christian organizations. Seacrest Apple Orchard is donating apples for the lunches and Gideons has donated hundreds of Bibles.

The Jesus Lunches take place for half an hour once a week for 8 weeks in the spring and fall. The lunches started on school grounds but as the numbers increased, the moms took the lunches and Christian message to nearby Fireman’s Park, which is not school property.

However, school officials are trying to stop the Jesus Lunches for what many believe to be nothing more than religious discrimination. School officials claim that they lease use of the park and that makes the park school property during school hours. They also object to the lunches claiming that they have no control over the quality and safety of the hot lunches being provided by the moms.

School administrators sent out letters to the moms, asking them to stop the Jesus Lunches, but the moms are not being intimidated into stopping. The moms went to the city to obtain permission to use the park and they have contacted an attorney who also say they have the right to hold the Jesus Lunches at the public park. However, school administrators are still insisting that they have some control over the lunches, but the moms are refusing to allow them to interfere.

Many high schools have fast food facilities nearby where many students go off campus to eat and talk. Have you ever heard of any school officials who insist on controlling what these fast food places serve or what the students are talking about? I doubt it. The only reason they are objecting is because of the Christian message being shared with the lunches and the chances that more of their students will become Christians.

Christianity is being targeted in public schools, city, county, state and federal government, private business, the media and virtually all aspects of life in America. It’s becoming more and more important for Christians to know their constitutional rights and they need to start standing up for those rights and stop allowing the whining and crying minority to strip them of their rights.

If every Christian stood up for his and her constitutional rights, we could reclaim the Christian America that we’ve lost. Additionally, we need to follow the instructions of 2 Chronicles 7:14:

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

R.L. David Jolly holds a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and an M.S. in Biology – Population Genetics. He has worked in a number of fields, giving him a broad perspective on life, business, economics and politics. He is a very conservative Christian, husband, father and grandfather who cares deeply for his Savior, family and the future of our troubled nation.

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